October 15, 2010
By Eugene Benson and Staci Rubin, Boston Globe

Your Oct. 4 editorial “On Chelsea Creek, city should pursue jobs amid conservation’’ rightly recognizes the appeal of the Chelsea Creek Action Group’s proposal for wetland restoration at the former Hess site in East Boston, and that industrial uses of the site raise environmental justice concerns. However, it is wrong to suggest that East Boston residents face a jobs-or-environment decision or that green industry on the site will yield anything economically viable.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has not attracted a prospective wind turbine manufacturing company in the three years it has owned the site. For a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine, typical blades measure 110 to 124 feet in length, and the industry is calling for longer blades that can generate more electricity. The 7-acre site is too small to host an economically viable facility for manufacturing wind-turbine blades or other large products.

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The Chelsea Creek Action Group organized in 1998 to advocate for green space on the Hess site. The group was right then, and it is right now.